Category: Glad Tidings

Nativity’s annual meeting for 2020 was held Sunday December 13 at 12 noon via Zoom. 27 people attended the online meeting where news and status from selected Ministry Teams and Vestry members were presented.

Oh my God, I cry by day but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” [Psalm 22]

For many of us, in this one line the psalmist captures our experiences of 2020. This has been a year of loss. We have lost over 280,000 of our family, friends, and neighbors to Covid-19. Many millions have lost jobs, a stable income, and housing. 2020 has also awakened our nation in new ways to the social justice needs among us. We have witnessed social and racial inequities play out in our streets, in our schools, and in our hospitals. This has been a year of isolation; socially, politically, and physically. In addition to the uniqueness of 2020, we have also lost loved ones to other illnesses and age, just as we do year to year. Some have retired. Others may have moved away from loved ones or sent loved ones off to college. In these and other ways we are led to lament. Yearly, as we travel through the season of Advent and our days grow shorter, we pause in anticipation of our Hope, our Light, and our Promise of Jesus’ return.

In that pausing and reflection of Advent, it is important to honor our grief and the grief of others. This year, Church of the Nativity will hold a Service of Lament on Sunday, December 20, at 5 pm. This will be a time to remember and lament our losses and to reflect upon the ways in which we have been challenged over the course of 2020. But this is also a service to lift up our laments to God with an understanding that God does hear our cries. As the psalmist concludes, “God does not hide from me. When I cry to God, God hears me.” [Psalm 22]  We invite you to join us for this service.  All are welcome. Remember, no grief is too large or too small for God to hear. God will not hide from our pain, nor will God ignore the cries of God’s people. It is in that promise of God’s hearing that we move forward through Advent and into the blessing of Christmas.

-Phillip Bass

Coming up soon, we will begin our celebration of Advent and Christmas. How will we be celebrating this year in the midst of Covid-19 and the restrictions that are necessary for our safety and the safety of others? This is a difficult question for couples and families. It is important to talk about this time as a couple and to review our traditions and our hopes for this year.

What traditions from the families that you grew up in were important to each of you? Share these with one another. What did you enjoy and find meaning in? What was fun and life giving to you?

Now each of you look at the holidays from the past few years, what did you do? What has changed over the years? Again, share these with each other.

Looking forward to this year, what will you be doing differently? What are the important elements for you? What will you be changing? What are the feelings that you have about the changes that you will make to adjust to this time? How can you incorporate some of the most important things to you in an adjusted way?

Gift giving is usually part of our traditions. What are the gifts that you can give that may not require going out to buy a gift, but are gifts of your presence and care for each other? Maybe it is a back rub, maybe it is a quiet time together to share your love and appreciation for each other. Perhaps you can make a card. Take a walk just the two of you and talk about the gifts that you give to each other all the time, such as helping with household chores or taking the car to the shop, etc. Give a gift from the heart.

It is important to remember to have some fun during this season. What can you do to make you laugh and let go? Could you play in the leaves? Dance? Watch a fun Christmas movie? Play games?

Talk about your spiritual traditions. What will you do this year? Attend services online. Spend some time as a couple or family reading the Nativity story in the Bible. Music is often a part of our worship. What music can you play to provide quiet moments of reflection or joyous moments that overflow with hymns like “Silent Night” or “O Holy Night”.

Your homework is to find a time soon before you get caught up in the season to talk about and plan what you want, especially this year.

Carl and Nancy Terry

Reaching Up Reaching Out: An Update

I know I sound like a broken record, but my gratitude for the continued generosity of this congregation is giving me life and sustaining my hope in my Covid-19 pandemic fatigue. Not only have many of you kept your commitment to funding our annual operations, we also continue to receive your contributions towards the Capital Campaign, Reaching Up Reaching Out. With your help, we made another significant payment towards the principle of the mortgage. Here is an update regarding the campaign from George Douglas and Pete Crow, the campaign co-chairs.

-Stephanie+

We are writing to thank you for your continued support of our Reaching Up, Reaching Out capital campaign, especially during this difficult and challenging year. Your Vestry has just recently made another significant payment from our campaign fund to the mortgage, reducing the principle to $314,000. In addition to telling you how grateful we are, we wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on the progress we have made since the campaign began in June 2017.

As you may recall, the purpose of the RURO campaign was to (1) install solar panels on the roof of the Michael Curry education building, to conserve energy and reduce our operating costs; (2) to replace the total HVAC system in the church offices and kitchen in Estill House; and (3) to reduce our mortgage, which in early 2017 was approximately $611,000.

Thanks to the incredible support of our church community, we have accomplished the following to date:  (1) The solar panels were installed by the end of 2017 and have provided significant savings to reduce our electricity cost; (2) the HVAC system was replaced before the end of 2017; and (3) we have reduced our mortgage from $611,000 to $314,000 as of August 1, 2020. When all of the pledges have been fulfilled within the next year, we hope to reduce the mortgage to less than $250,000!

Many thanks to all who have continued to fulfill their pledges and all who have made contributions to the campaign during the past three years. If you are a newcomer and would like to contribute or get more information about the campaign, please contact George Douglas, our campaign chairman, at gbdouglas3@gmail.com.

Please know that your love and support will allow us to keep the Nativity community together and strong for years to come!

I laid out my idea to Stephanie – we’d begin on November 29, the first Sunday of Advent. Every family participating would pick up an empty box at the church (to decorate at home however they chose), a daily check off sheet and a list of suggested items. On the last Sunday of Advent, December 20, the filled boxes would be brought back to Nativity where my husband and I would collect them and deliver them to the, as of that time, unknown recipients.

Stephanie suggested I contact Peggy Wade, who has several families that through her have a connection to Nativity. Perfect!

Peggy and I had a wonderful conversation. She was excited when I outlined my idea to her, and she offered some great suggestions. The 14 families that she looks out for are all on food stamps; she schooled me on what can and cannot be bought with food stamps; some I was aware of, others were a shock. Food stamps cannot be used to buy coffee or tea, toothpaste, bath soap or toilet paper (really, no toilet paper!?!) and the list goes on. She suggested we collect cleaning products, paper products, personal hygiene products, interspersed with holiday treats like Christmas candy and cookies.

My idea was now a plan on its way to becoming a project. Back to Stephanie. She suggested we ask the families to say a prayer each day for the family they are filling the box for, as they add another item to the box. On December 20, when the boxes are returned, we gather them in the Narthex for a blessing before we deliver them to their families.

For more information, to become a part of this outreach, please contact me at cherylww1127@gmail.com.

Cheryl Waechter

It all started with a book. A good friend, from EfM, had been telling me for months, “you’ve got to read Take This Bread, by Sara Miles, you’ll love it!” I bought it. It sat on my desk for months. One day in early summer he asked if I’d read it yet. No but, I have it! Later in the summer I looked at it on my desk, staring back at me reproachfully. I picked it up, opened it and began to read. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down! This is the story of Sara’s spiritual journey from growing up in an atheist household to covering revolutions around the world as a freelance journalist to early one morning stepping into St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, taking communion for the very first time and finding herself transformed.

She had witnessed crushing poverty in war-torn places around the world, remembered the poorest of the poor sharing their bread with her. At St. Gregory’s she found God feeding his people with spiritual food and made a connection. She, with the support of the members of St. Gregory’s, began a free food pantry with food piled on and around the altar to feed the hungry in their San Francisco neighborhood. Eventually that first food pantry gave rise to almost a dozen food pantries in the poorest areas of the city.

I was fired up! We, at Nativity, need to start a free food pantry! Wait, how does that happen during a pandemic? I tucked the idea away.

While scrolling through Facebook one day my eye was caught by a post for an Advent project, a reverse Advent Calendar. Instead of buying an Advent calendar, opening a little door each day, and taking out a chocolate or other small treat you would be creating something to be given away. This caught my attention.

Starting with an empty box, each day of Advent a non-perishable food item, such as a box of cereal, can of soup, can of vegetables, etc. would be put into it. Then on Christmas Eve it would be delivered to a food pantry. This is a project we can do, even during a pandemic! I had some ideas about how I might adapt the project to make it more personal. Time to call Stephanie!

Are you curious? Come back next week for the rest of the story.

Cheryl Waechter

It gladdens my heart to announce that we will begin to meet together for Evening Prayer beginning on November 11 in the Nave of the church. Following the Bishops’ guidelines, a limit of 25 people in attendance applies. Signing up to attend this service will work in the same way as signing up to attend an outdoor Eucharist. Of course, social distancing and mask-wearing are also necessary for the safety of everyone.

When we began our customary Evening Prayer series for the season of Lent, I had no inkling of what was about to befall us. But we’ve continued to meet together online, and pray, supporting one another and holding the community in prayer as we have weathered these strange and unsettling seven months. The rhythm of praying together, even virtually, has borne up my spirit in these troubling days.

Evening Prayer will still be live streamed on Wednesday evenings, so if you aren’t yet comfortable being in the Nave for a service, you won’t be left out.  We will begin with a live stream on Facebook and hope to start a companion live stream on YouTube as soon as possible. In the meantime, the service will be uploaded to YouTube later that evening.

We will move through these waning days of Ordinary Time together in prayer, and begin a new church year meeting through the season of Advent.  The final Evening Prayer service of the year will be held on December 23.  After this, we will allow the service to rest and resume in the season of Lent on the Wednesday following Ash Wednesday.

Pax Christi,
Jeremy Clos

Last week, I encouraged everyone to make sure that they are registered to vote. This week, I want to discuss mail-in voting and in-person early voting. If you are concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic, give yourself the option to vote by mail by requesting an absentee ballot on the Absentee Ballot Tools page of the NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) website. Do this soon because, according to the Vote by Mail page of the NCSBE website, it will take 7 to 10 days for your ballot to arrive in your mailbox after you request it. According to the FAQs: Voting by Mail in NC in 2020 page of the NCSBE website, once you receive and fill out your ballot, you can return it in person at your county board of elections office, in person at an open early voting site in your county, by commercial courier service (DHL, FedEx, or UPS), or by mail. If you decide to return your ballot by mail, the U.S. Postal Service recommends sending it in by October 27. To be on the safe side, submit your completed ballot as soon as possible.

If you are a registered voter or if you still need to register, in-person early voting may be a good option for you, as long as you do not vote twice. In-person early voting sites are open from October 15 to October 31, so make a plan to vote soon. Visit the One-Stop Voting Sites page of the NCSBE website to find in-person early voting sites in your county. Check out the Vote Early in Person page of the NCSBE website for more information.

I am more than happy to help anyone fill out an absentee ballot request form, answer questions about in-person early voting, and track ballots using BallotTrax. Feel free to contact me at bknapp4@gmail.com.